.WRITERS.ON.WRITING..Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #63
Vanessa Y. Niu
Describe an early experience where you learned that language has power.
Though I am currently studying classical music, I grew up singing and acting in a variety of genres, and I also studied theater for two years in London. Theater, musical or not, relies heavily on the power of language to communicate but also to move. Looking back, I believe it was my encounter with Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar as Caesar himself in a showcase of Shakespearean fragments, that really catapulted this realization. What was really remarkable about it is that even now I can still recall the feeling of the audience hanging on to your words, feeling your emotions through them, and the rhythm of the language mimicking my heart rate. Exhilaration.
What is your writing Kryptonite? Your most interesting writing quirk?
Being forced to write something in an allotted amount of time tends to clutter my brain quickly with tasks that have nothing to do with writing and completely destroys the attention that writing needs. Then you’ll see all sorts of junky metaphors that don’t flow well rhythmically or are just unintentionally senseless. Personally, I need a lot of time to sort through the cliches and the metaphors I have stored up in my head from reading other works, things that are reflexive memory. It’s a slow process of allowing whatever the predominant emotion I’m writing about really is to come out. Filing, conglomerating, remixing different parts of the mental inventory, putting it on the page. Though, and the quirk ties along with this, there are times writing in a given time can be very helpful (when self-imposed) because I tend to be a control freak about how a piece of writing goes out into the world—it’s very important to remember that not everything has to be understood, that poetry really is just for you.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
To read more widely. I was stuck in a loop of looking for a very specific genre of narrative poetry and I think it might have stunted my growth as a writer. The more you read certainly makes a difference in the structure and voice of a work, but the wider you read, the more styles and schools and time periods, the more tools you have to achieve what you want to achieve in your work. It also helps to develop a style of your own, gives you more to experiment with.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
I think there’s a general consensus in the writing industry now that promotes writing for social change in the world. I think to some degree this holds true. I do wish my writing could enact some change in the world, but I do hope that writing continues to be something innately personal. I write because there is nothing else that is so flexible with my emotions and thoughts—the independence of it is refreshing. I suppose my “inner writing voice” wants me to not take everything so seriously.
Vanessa Y. Niu is a poet who lives in New York City. Off the lined page, her work has been set to music in collaborations with Juilliard and Interlochen composers. When not writing, she likes to play chess with her friends, learn about non-Euclidean dimensions, and listen to jazz.
“Record Player Plays Franco-American Blues” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal EMBLAZON, Vol. VIII, No. 2, Fall 2023. You can find her at vanessayniu.carrd.co or on Instagram @vvn.zihan.
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #60
Sarah Josephine Pennington
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
There is more to say.
What is a book you wish someone would write?
Whatever is laying on their heart. Something they feel deep in their bones dragging them forward, forcing them to create.
Where do you go to find out about writing submissions opportunities?
I try to comb through the acknowledgments and websites of writers I admire to see their publishing history, and then I visit those journals or magazines to see what their publishing schedule and submission criteria are. I love to write a lot of different things, from creative nonfiction to speculative fiction, to poetry, so I’ve started a separate Google Calendar that alerts me to publishing openings and closings of venues I’m interested in. Since I’ve been out of school for years now, I don’t get the announcements I did when I was in creative writing workshops, so I also try my best to participate in community events and workshops and have found resources that way.
How did you first publish your writing and what was it?
I had a poem published in the program for a middle school honor’s banquet, and I was hooked on writing after that.
Sarah Josephine Pennington (she/her) is a queer, disabled writer and artist currently living in Louisville, Kentucky, though her roots are in Appalachia. She studied creative writing while attending Bellarmine University and the University of Louisville, as well as through the Appalachian Writer’s Workshop and the Carnegie Center in Lexington. Recently her writing has been included in Still: The Journal, riddlebird, and the Anthology of Appalachian Writers, and she was awarded a 2023 writing residency through the Kentucky Foundation for Women and placed in the Leo (Louisville Eccentric Observer) annual literary contest. Her art, which includes ceramics, printmaking, and fiber arts, can be frequently found in venues throughout Louisville.
Sarah’s beautiful piece “Myths and Lore” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal EMBLAZON, Vol. VIII, No. 2, fall 2023. We were in such awe of “Myths and Lore” that we nominated it for a 2024 Pushcart Prize.
Learn more about Sarah through Instagram.
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #58
Samantha Chagollan
How did you first publish your writing and what was it?
My first published piece was a 100-word micro-essay written specifically for a contest when I was 11 years old. The national essay contest was sponsored by a stationary company for the 1984 Olympics. The question to answer was: What is the most important thing an athlete can bring home from the Olympics? My essay’s answer was “pride,” and it won the grand prize and was published in my local newspaper. In just the last few years, I’ve returned to loving shorter formats like microessays, and I recently realized it’s what I started with so long ago.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
If I listen really closely, and get past my inner critic, my inner writer reminds me that my stories are worth telling. That what I have to say may bring comfort or inspiration to someone else, and that I should not let the inner critic stop me from pushing on.
What are you currently working on?
I’ve just completed the first draft of my memoir Homesick and am currently revising and editing to prepare for querying. I also have an idea for another creative nonfiction project about the disappearance of my maternal grandfather that I am anxious to dig into. I’ve been applying for residencies in 2024 and am really looking forward to AWP [which just happened!], where I’ll be featured on a panel about microprose.
If you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be and why?
I’m calling in a dream dinner party table of guests that are still of this world and one that has already passed: Cheryl Strayed, Frida Kahlo, Linda Ronstadt, and Jennifer Lopez. I would ask them all about courage, creativity, longevity, resilience, and confidence. I would be curious about the work that has felt the most rewarding to them and what they haven’t done that they wish they had.
Samantha Chagollan is a southern California writer and artist who centers much of her creative work around the themes of home, family, and her mixed Mexican and American heritage. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Cal Poly Humboldt, where she focused her studies on multicultural literature. Her work has been featured in Alebrijes Review, Lavender Bones, Latin@ Literatures, and in the anthologies The Covid Monologues and Nonwhite and Woman. Samantha was accepted for a residency this summer at Vashon Island and will be a recipient of their scholarship.
“End Credits” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal EMBLAZON, Vol. VIII, No. 2, fall 2023. You can find Samantha reading her poem with other EMBLAZON authors in Fleeting Moments, Inscribed: A Reading from EMBLAZON on the Yellow Arrow YouTube Channel. She also participated in an offsite reading for Yellow Arrow at AWP in Kansas City in February 2024. “Being a part of the offsite event at AWP was the perfect way to kick off the conference,” says Samantha. “It was wonderful to meet some of the other authors in person, and to hear them read their work aloud. It felt like we were truly in community together.”
Learn more about Samantha and her writing at samanthachagollan.com, on Bluesky, Instagram, and Twitter @samchagollan, or by contacting her at samchagollan@gmail.com.
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #56
Laura Rockhold
What is the first book that made you cry? What book is on the top of your to-be-read pile?
As a child, Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. As a mother while reading to my daughter, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein and What The Road Said by Cleo Wade.
[In December, I read] All Souls by Saskia Hamilton for my reading group. On top of my personal list is The Search for the Genuine, a book of essays by Jim Harrison.
How did you first publish your writing and what was it?
I became dedicated to submitting my poetry in 2021 and first published poems in 2022. The first publication in 2022 included two poems, “One Story High” and “(I Cried For You) In The Rain.”
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
Yes.
What are you currently working on?
I am currently collaborating with a local artist on two different 2024 projects that combine poetry and visual art as an experience in the community. I am also participating with The Witness Project, a local group of writers engaged in projects that draw attention to ecological relationships between humans and nature and promote solutions to existing systemic racial and economic inequities in the Twin Cities. And I am seeking publication of my first collection of poetry and painting occasionally.
Laura Rockhold is a poet and visual artist living in Minnesota. She is the inventor of the golden root poetic form and 2022 recipient of the Bring Back The Prairies Award and Southern MN Poets Society Award. Her work has been nominated for Best of the Net and is published or forthcoming in Black Fox Literary Magazine, Cider Press Review, deLuge Journal, Scarlet: A Literary Journal, The Ekphrastic Review, The Hopper, Yellow Arrow Journal, and elsewhere. Find her at laurarockhold.com.
“LICHEN BLOOMS” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal PEREGRINE, Vol. VII, No. 2, Fall 2022 while “LETTER TO MY DAUGHTER” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal’s issue EMBLAZON, Vol. VIII, No. 2, Fall 2023. Laura participated in the readings for both publications, which can be found on the Yellow Arrow YouTube channel.
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #55
Dani Sacchi
What period of your life do you find you write about most often?
I tend to focus on the present day or the first eight years of my life when I lived in the Bronx. Those early years intensely influenced so much of the person I became as a teenager, from my attachment style to my behaviors. I have strong memories, beautiful and painful, from that time in my childhood that I lean on when writing stories.
What is a good writing habit you have picked up?
Something that completely transformed my editing post-rough draft is a tip I got from listening to Ocean Vuong talk about workshopping. I learned not to approach my writing with the intent to fix, but rather in the first one to three weeks, notice patterns, observe, learn the true intent of the piece, and then during the fourth and fifth weeks begin suggestions, criticisms, and making changes that align with the purpose of the story.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
What are you waiting for?
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Don’t allow your lack of knowledge or experience to instill a fear of making mistakes. Make mistakes. Be playful. Have fun. Be vulnerable. This is your power.
An emerging voice in Orlando, Florida, Dani Sacchi brings a diverse background to her writing. With a bachelor’s degree in English under her belt, she has honed her craft through experience as a copywriter, high school teacher, and recruiter. Balancing a full-time job, she’s carving her path in the literary world, all while dreaming of returning to school for her master’s degree. At home, she finds inspiration alongside her loving husband and dog.
Dani’s incredible piece, “BOTH/AND,” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal’s issue EMBLAZON, Vol. VIII, No. 2, Fall 2023. She joined other EMBLAZON readers for Fleeting Moments, Inscribed: A Reading of EMBLAZON on November 29; the reading is now available on the Yellow Arrow YouTube channel.
Learn more about Dani on Instagram @officialdani and at danisacchi.squarespace.com.